It's December 10th (my grandma's 92nd birthday!) and I still have about 80% of Christmas presents left to buy! I was very timely last year but this year time has gotten the best of me. To get inspired, I put together this collection of goodies that I would gift to my friends or purchase for myself. I organized my selection by bags, jewelry/accessories, beauty, and home. I'm especially loving all the bags and jewelry. The beauty products are all things I routinely use, and the home products are lovely little things.

It was in the 70's this Thanksgiving, which I took as the perfect invitation to break out the plaid, this fur vest, and my fave ankle boots. What can I say, you gotta take all the fall you can get here in Miami.

I haven't done a monthly recap since the one for August. That is unacceptable.

This November was very productive, outfit-wise. I took Thanksgiving week off to decompress a bit, and boy did it make a difference. Self-care is so important. I feel much more relaxed and like myself. I also got lots of blogging done, which was great.

Here are my favorite Instagrams of the month. Selfie with my grandma is my absolute fave. I love her so much. <3

Also, I cannot believe 2015 is coming to a close. Every year I'm in disbelief, but this year I really, really can't believe it. It has not been my best year, honestly... And 2016 is just looming over me, threatening more change when it's unwelcome, stagnation where there should be growth. What a very bleak outlook but that's where I am right now. Perhaps I'll be singing a different tune come December 2016. I sure hope so.

She wore an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini dress.... And some sunflowers, and a hat, and red sunglasses! Just throw it all in there. In my mind this is what I'd wear to go flower shopping on a lovely Sunday morning, possibly somewhere in California or New York. I've never been to either of those places, but it just feels right. There's an artsy, boho, hipster-ish flair to this look that I so love, much like what I imagine those places to be.

I feel like I walked straight out of an Anthro catalog here, in this beautiful Anthro dress and gorgeous textured wall. Lol. This was the first outfit I shot with Gen in this fall photo shoot of ours. The dress just screams "fall" at me, and it's totally something I'd wear to a fancy Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving dinner, if I had that kind of lifestyle. Someday I shall. I shall plan fancy get-togethers and make everyone dress up or else. Bet that will make me real popular. Lol.

I am sooo excited about this blog post, you guys! These gorgeous shots were taken by Gen of @genstreetstyle on Instagram. She is phenomenal, as you may recall from my swim shoots this summer (here, here, and here), so sweet, and such a pleasure to work with.

It's been so long since I last took outfit photos that I was a little rusty here and ended up with a bunch of off-center, weird looking poses, imo. Also, these pictures were taken in my oh so lovely (not) backyard. But I liked my outfit enough to shoot some blog pictures anyway.

This outfit is a variation of some outfits I've posted before (like here and here). I wear some combination of this probably way too much, but I can't help it-- this kimono, with its beautiful dark floral print, is my go-to for instantly making an outfit feel more fall-like. It's also thin enough that I won't die of heat (although I still have to take it off when I'm driving, otherwise I'll melt!).

I really miss the days when I was an active blogger and participant in the larger blogger community. I do hope I'll get there again someday-- maybe when I have a faster, more normal functioning computer and when my work schedule lightens up. But in the meantime I'd like to thank those of you who keep on passing by when I have not been able to do the same in so long. Thank you for your support! <3

This look is so 90s minimalist grunge to me (except for the lipstick-- way too bright for the 90s). The whole thing takes me back to my rainbow choker-wearking days-- it was 1998 and I was 8 years old, but I was a dark soul. I wore dark blue nail polish and wanted to dress like Debbie from The Wild Thornberrys someday (hands down, best 90s cartoon show ever!).

My monthly recaps keep getting more and more morose. Call it summertime sadness or something, or maybe depression. No, I'll call it "existential panic." I like that better. Or a "quarter-life crisis" (this is a legit thing, you know). Needless to say, when I read this opinion piece in the New York Times a few days ago, about a man's summer that never was, I knew I had to reference it in this post. Because that is the way I feel every month. A little let down that I didn't get to do it all.

My job is still crazy, my boyfriend's job is taking him away for weeks at a time, and I'm not really getting out much. You'd think I'd be able to blog more in that downtime, but really any time I have is devoted to either sleep or admin/paperwork stuff for work. And it's been this way for months.

But hey, it's September, and school has started for the kiddos, so maybe that'll mean a more stable work schedule for me (I provide therapy for kids in their schools and homes). Also, I have several outfits waiting to be posted, like these black and white ones above that I had planned to share in August-- stay tuned for those and more this month. All in all, I felt quite stressed and sad last month, but there were also many moments of great fun, love, and laughter over the course of two family birthdays and one wedding. It was the first time a close friend of mine was married, and I cried so many happy tears that night. See more happy August memories from my Instagram below:

Oh, and Fear the Walking Dead started! Seriously so excited for that show, you guys. It's very helpful for TWD withdrawals. Looking forward to more of that in September! My parents are also redoing their kitchen this month, and I am finally going to buy a bike for health and leisure purposes. Check out this bike board I've been curating over the past year or two:

I swear, the rest of my clothes must be so jealous of these pants and cardigan. I wear the cardigan a few times a week for work, and the jeans are easily my single most used item on the weekends. It's just so easy, you know? I dressed up the look a little bit with one of my prettiest summer heels that I've had forever, plus my new Candy Couture Shop necklaces. This shop is one of my favorites right now, so I was thrilled when Gina contacted me to send over some of her new stuff, like the versatile crystal necklace and beautiful blue druzy below.

There's always so much more I wanted to do, so much more left for another day.

Somber words for this colorful July recap, but it's what I feel.

I got an early start observing and analyzing people in my own family and tiny K-12 Catholic school. I was always introspective and slightly pessimistic/depressed. Hell, my 8th grade nickname was "Negative Nathy."

Naturally, I became a therapist.

There are many reasons that people choose to become therapists, and running from your own demons is certainly one of them. Through my training and experience working with people from all walks of life, I have been able to confront and resolve some of them, and encounter new ones as well. This blog is my creative outlet and a huge part of my self-care routine. It has helped me make new friends that I would have never met otherwise. It has taken me to various nooks and crannies all over Miami that I wouldn't have had a reason to visit otherwise. It gets my creative juices flowing and pushes me to test the limits of any self-imposed barriers. For example, taking your own blog pictures at lunchtime in the middle of Downtown Coral Gables is quite the test of stamina for an introvert like me. I've become better able to live in the moment in service of valued ends, despite any negative self-talk that may come up. Which is actually my approach as a therapist in a nutshell: to help people discover their own personal traps and move toward valued ends, regardless of distress.

Still, I'm a perfectionist. And not the super productive kind, sadly. More like the kind that becomes so paralyzed with the fear of failure that she stops trying. That is one of my personal traps. My work-life balance has been way off in 2015, but everyday I work toward an appropriate balance. It helps that inside that ol' Negative Nathy is a Motivated Idealist, somewhere in there.

So why did I write all of this in my July recap... Well, I'm a big believer in journaling (obviously). And as I stared at my parrot puppet selfie up above, which I use to help my kid clients understand the impact of negative self-talk and ways to counteract it, I thought I'd show a little of myself today. Because therapists are people with non-professional goals and aspirations too, and we suffer from the same life traps everyone else does.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you guys had a wonderful July, and I wish you many opportunities to grow, create, and live on your own terms in August and beyond.

Stay tuned for more on Earnestyle. I will be posting lots of outfits this coming week. :)

Disclosure

Earnestyle uses affiliate product links in every post and some ads in the blog's sidebar. This means that if you click one of these links or an ad I will earn a very tiny commission. If you purchase an item I will earn a somewhat larger commission. All sponsored content included in the blog are for products or retailers that are featured in a post or for items that I would purchase myself. Items marked as "c/o" (courtesy of) were provided to me for free.